CAUSES OF FAILURE. 9 



the manner of giants, or of stunted "dwarfs," admirably 

 named and ugly as Quilp ; the only sign of health and 

 vigour being the abundant growth of the Manetti stock, 

 which has smothered years ago the small baby committed 

 to its care, but is still supposed to be the child itself, and is 

 carefully pruned year after year in expectation of a glow of 

 beauty. There is no beauty, and there never will be, for 

 the florist ; but to the entomologist what a happy peaceful 

 home ! There can be no museum in all the world so ex- 

 quisitely complete in caterpillars, or so rich with all manner 

 of flies. For me there is no solace in these charms. I 

 stand sorrowful and silent, like Marius among the ruins, 

 until my companion wishes to know whether I can tell him 

 why that wretched Charles Lefebvre behaves so disgrace- 

 fully in his garden ? On reflection, perhaps I can. Charles 

 Lefebvre is placed, like Tityrus, " sub tegmine fagi," under 

 the drip and shadow of a noble beech-tree, whose boughs 

 above and roots beneath effectually keep all nourishment 

 from him. And do I know why Charles Lawson, Blairii 2, 

 and Persian Yellow never have a flower upon them ? 

 Simply because they are pruned always, as no man with 

 seeing eyes could prune them twice, so closely that they 

 make nothing but wood. The single standards, again, are 



